Top 10 Signs of a Bad Supervisor

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Top 10 Signs of a Bad Supervisor By Kimberly Alyn Everyone has had to work for a bad supervisor at one point or another. Some people mistake leadership for supervisory or management positions. Anyone who supervises another employee is a supervisor, but that doesn 9t make that person a leader.

A leader is someone who positively influences others to want to follow. A good supervisor should also be a good leader. A bad supervisor is someone who usually lacks leadership skills, ability, or training.

They might think they are doing a great job, but everyone around them knows they stink at it! Below are the top 10 signs of a bad supervisor: 1) Bad Supervisors Lead and Manage by Intimidation These types of supervisors tend to use force and threats to get things done. They try to intimidate others with their tone of voice, body language, and harsh words.

They are abrasive, harsh, and severe. 2) Bad Supervisors Do Not Produce Results They often talk about what needs to be done, complain about what 9s not getting done, and demand that someone else do it. They rarely ever produce real results themselves and they lack initiative in getting things accomplished.

3) Bad Supervisors Lack ... more. less.

Honesty and Integrity Character is a vital part of being a great leader, and this is a non-negotiable leadership principle that has been around since the beginning of time. Bad supervisors are dishonest and tend to make unethical decisions. They justify these decisions with excuses like cEveryone else does it, d or cNo one is going to know d or cIt won 9t hurt anyone. d 4) Bad Supervisors Do Not Learn From Mistakes They rarely ever admit they are wrong and their subordinates would faint and fall over if the words cI 9m sorry d were ever uttered from their mouths! Bad supervisors tend to deny their mistakes, making it impossible to learn from those mistakes and become better as a leader or supervisor. As a result, there is a lack of respect among followers. 5) Bad Supervisors Lack Openness to New Ideas or Suggestions These supervisors do not want suggestions or input from others. They take any form of suggestion or input as negative criticism instead of positive ideas. They say things like cIf it 9s not broke, don 9t fix it d or cThat 9s the way we 9ve always done it around here d or cWe 9ve tried that before and it didn 9t work. d 6) Bad Supervisors Become Threatened by People Who Pursue Learning and Self-Development Real leaders support their followers in pursuing continual learning and self-development. Bad supervisors become threatened by subordinates who might get a higher education than the supervisor or who might attend some advanced training in their field that the supervisor doesn 9t want to attend. As a result, the bad supervisor will often put down training or college degrees, or any form of continuing education. 7) Bad Supervisors Criticize Others When a supervisor is insecure, they tend to overcompensate by putting other people down, especially in public. They tend to talk down to people to make themselves appear more powerful. They find things to criticize about anyone who is getting positive attention. When they need to reprimand a subordinate, they will often do it in front of other people because they think it makes them look powerful. If they only knew how horrible it makes them look! 8) Bad Supervisors Do Not Make Themselves Accountable A bad supervisor will make decisions without thinking about the consequences or how the decisions might affect others. Additionally, there is no accountability, especially to those they supervise. Bad supervisors say things like cI 9m the boss 4I don 9t owe an explanation to THEM! d or cIf they don 9t like it, too bad. d Real leaders understand that they are accountable to their followers as well as their supervisors to make principle-based decisions. 9) Bad Supervisors Exhibit Poor Communication Skills Too many people think communicating is talking. Well it is, but it 9s also listening. The reason God gave you two ears and only one mouth was so you would learn to listen twice as much as you talked! Bad supervisors spew their thoughts and opinions on others without really listening to what others want to say. If they do shut up long enough to listen, they are not really listening& they are just waiting to talk. They are formulating their response or argument in their head. They often interrupt or interject when people are trying to talk, and they don 9t take the time to validate others in the communication process. 10) Bad Supervisors Exhibit High Confidence but Low Competence This is by far the worst type of supervisor. They tend to show a very high level of confidence but they have a very low level of competence. Subordinates find it very difficult to follow this type of supervisor. The supervisor comes off as a cocky, arrogant, know-it-all, but everyone around that person knows they are full of crap. Unfortunately, the only one who doesn 9t know it is the supervisor, which amplifies their incompetence. Since we now have syndromes for just about everything, I call this one the HCLC syndrome (high confidence/low competence). Don 9t be one of the supervisors who ends up dubbed with this syndrome! It takes a lot to be considered a great leader. There are actions and behaviors you must exhibit on a daily basis. If you are exhibiting any of the actions above, chances are, people will find it very difficult to follow you. If you want to find out how good of a leader you really are, download my Leadership Assessment and ask people to fill it out on you. It 9s online and it 9s free. Just log on to: KimberlyAlyn.com/Assessment. You can also take a 20-question leadership quiz and see where you come out: KimberlyAlyn.com/LeadershipQuiz.pdf. Dr. Kimberly Alyn is a best-selling author and an international professional speaker. She delivers time-tested and progressive self improvement concepts with humor and insight, and audiences rave! Kim is the author of ten books including the best-seller How to Deal With Annoying People (with Bob Phillips, Ph.D.), Discover your Inner Strength (with contributors Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard, and Brian Tracy), and Men are Slobs, Women are Neat&and other Gender Lies that Damage Relationships (with Bob Phillips, Ph.D.). Kim has also developed and produced numerous CD/DVD productions on a variety of topics. Kim offers keynotes and longer presentations on topics like leadership, success principles, team building, dealing with annoying people, and giving butt-kicking presentations. Kim has been an entrepreneur and successful business owner since the age of nineteen and possesses a contagious passion and enthusiasm for life that you just have to experience for yourself! An advocate of life long learning, Kim has her bachelors degree in management, her masters degree in organizational management, and her Ph.D. in organizational management with a specialty in leadership. Kim has over 20 years of experience with speaking, training, educating, and entertaining audiences. To find out how to have Dr. Kimberly Alyn come speak at your event or to get more information about Kim, log on to KimberlyAlyn.com.

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